Pokémon Quartz—Exitimu and Jaiden
by kalosianlitten
Summary: The Maloni region is diverse and very big. Three children have just started their Pokémon journey, and, with the rise of Team Nitro, an organisation that wants to lower the temperature of the region using Ice type Pokémon, soon they will find that they are the most important people in the entire region.
1. The Most Important Decision

As the sun rose in Maloni, a hot breeze blew through Litoire Town, which was typical summer weather in the region. In Professor Waratah's laboratory, she awoke with the realisation that the three starter Pokémon would be taken by three kids—a girl named Jaiden, a boy named Matthew and another boy named Jay. Jay was known for being the son of Vincent, the founder of the Foundation for the Protection of Pokémon Outside of Battle.

This organisation was founded on the principle of Pokémon protection and conservation, and most of Jay's family supported this principle. But one person disagreed with this—Pat, Vincent's younger brother. Instead, he was more into the mistreatment of Pokémon, especially the Ice types. This was because Ice type Pokémon seemed to be rare in Maloni. Two of these were the legendary Pokémon Exitimu and Prasidimu. Both were related somehow, and according to Maloni myth both were created by an unknown Pokémon. Pat's daughter, who people referred to as simply 'the interesting one', or Tio, shared the same opinion as him. She had grown so used to that name that she adopted that as her actual name.

Jay and his mother had moved to Litorie Town some weeks before. Originally, they had lived in Ningrey City, a city in southeastern Maloni. However, they were required to move because Vincent had caught a dangerous disease, which required him to stay in with doctors. It was unknown how and why he got this illness, but he could not head the foundation because of it. Instead, he made the worst decision in his entire life. He let Pat lead the foundation. "I'm gonna regret this," sighed Vincent. "But Jay's too young and I'm too ill."

"You won't," Pat snarled. "I'm gonna make you proud."

Meanwhile, Jaiden was awoken by a shout. "Jaiden, time to get up!" shouted her mum. "You know today is the day when your journey starts!" Jaiden walked down the stairs and yawned. Being not much of a talker, she simply nodded. "Also, you'll need to get ready," she added. "I'll get your bag from the kitchen, but you'll need to get everything else. Your flask and all the other things you need are in your bag."

Jaiden quickly ran back upstairs and into the bathroom, then washed her face. She ran her comb through her black hair, then brushed her teeth. She ran downstairs and grabbed a Poffin from the cupboard. Next, she placed it carefully in her bag. A second later there was a knock at the door. "Hullo!" said a boy, once the door was opened. "I'm Jay."

"Hi," said Mum. "Jaiden, this is Jay." Jaiden waved, though she wasn't exactly paying attention because she was looking in the pantry for more Moomoo Milk as there was none in the fridge.

Next, Matthew left his house, en route to Ecinca Town, a little town just across from his home. "Oh! Hello!" exclaimed Matthew, noticing Jay at Jaiden's door. "I know you from somewhere."

"What?" said Jay.

"Oh! I'm not trying to be creepy," he said. "I just know you 'cause of your dad."

"I'm not exactly surprised," he chuckled.

Professor Waratah arrived at the house at that moment. "Hello," she greeted. "Are Jay, Jaiden and Matthew in here?"

"Yep!" shouted Matthew. "I was wondering where you were!"

"Well, I'm here now," she said. "All of you are starting your Pokémon journey today, correct?" Jaiden nodded.

"You'll need to come to my laboratory, then," Waratah added. "You'll make the important decision in your life there."

Five minutes later, all three kids had gathered in the lab. Professor Waratah pointed to three Poké Balls that were on a counter. "Each Pokémon contains one Pokémon," she stated. "Punicin, the Grass type, is in the one on the left. Slithurn, the Fire type, is in the one in the middle. Splashalf, the Water type, is in the one on the right. Choose wisely."

Jaiden was the first to go up. After some thought, she chose Splashalf. "Good choice! The Baby Water Elephant Pokémon." Jay went up next. He chose Punicin. "Nice, the The Flower Penguin Pokémon." Finally, Matthew chose his Pokémon, Slithurn. "Cool! The Burning Adder Pokémon."

Once everyone had obtained their starters, the professor handed them all a small device. "The Pokédex, right?" asked Matthew.

"Yes," she replied. "This may look small, but it is very important. Every time you catch a Pokémon, it automatically records their data. Every Pokémon has a Pokédex entry, too. I want you to fill this up with as much information as possible."

"Okay," said Jay.

"Try it out!"

The three sent their Pokémon out of their Poké Balls, then Jaiden touched the screen and the Pokédex turned on. He put the Pokédex in front of Splashalf and it scanned it immediately. '#007. Splashalf, the Baby Water Elephant Pokémon,' it read, 'Splashalf is very lightweight for an elephant. It is also the only one in its evolutionary line that can breathe and swim underwater.' Jay went next, scanning his Punicin. It read, '#001. Punicin, the Flower Penguin Pokémon. The first Punicin was created after a Piplup accidentally travelled from the Antarctic regions south of Maloni to the lush pomegranate forests nearby. It ate one and transformed into Punicin as it wasn't used to it.' Matthew scanned Slithurn. '#004. Slithurn, the Burning Adder Pokémon. Slithurn is very clumsy and will often accidentally set other Pokémon on fire using hypnosis. It will often refuse to hypnotise Pokémon when told to, though.'

"Nice! I wanna go outside and train immediately!"

"Do you know the basics of Pokémon training and catching, yet?" asked the professor.

"Well, not exactly."

"I'll meet you on Route 1 and I'll introduce you to it. You can battle, but I'm unsure if you know how," stated Professor Waratah.

"We'll play it on the safe side," said Jay. "I don't want my Pokémon hurt this early in the journey." The others agreed and left the lab. Jay left after.

"Walnaby, get ready," muttered the professor. "We're catching a Pokémon." She grabbed a Poké Ball from her desk and ran outside.

Meanwhile, all three novice Trainers went back to their house. "That's a nice Pokémon you've got there," said Jaiden's mum, who was looking at his Pokédex while Jay packed the Poké Ball in his bag. "Splashalf." At Jay's house, his mum was a little surprised.

"Grass is kinda weak, you know," she murmured.

"Don't say that," exclaimed Jay. "I'll be able to train it quickly." Matthew's dad was pleased.

"Slithurn! My best friend had one when I was your age. He used to say it was the best Pokémon ever!" he chortled. "Its evolution seemed to be very strong, too."

"Dad, I know. That's why I chose it."

"Ready?" Professor Waratah questioned once everyone was on the route.

"Yep!" they shouted (except for Jaiden, who made an OK sign with her left hand). She walked into the grass and a Pokémon jumped out of it almost immediately. "Punctunny!" noted Matthew.

"Yes!" she replied. "Anyway, the first thing you need to do is weaken the Pokémon. Go, Walnaby! Use Bite!" It weakened Punctunny, however it was not enough to catch it. The Punctunny used Growl. "Now, use Tackle!" Punctunny's HP was lowered. "Now throw a Poké Ball!" A Poké Ball was thrown at Punctunny. The ball vibrated twice, then the Poké Ball closed. Punctunny had been caught.

"Wow! That's amazing!" cried Matthew.

"Now I want you to do the same. There's more than a hundred Pokémon in this region alone," said Professor Waratah. "There's another town across this route—Ecinca Town. If you need to heal, there's a Pokémon Centre in the town. And before I forget, here are five Poké Balls. Use these to catch your own Pokémon."

"Okay!" said Jay. "Hey, do you guys wanna battle?"

"Sure!" Matthew agreed. Jaiden nodded.

"I'm gonna battle Jaiden first!" shouted Jay.

The two sent out their starter Pokémon. "Use Tackle!" shouted Jay. Splashalf received five HP of damage, however this was not enough t0 hurt it much. Jaiden used her Pokédex to tell Punicin to use Water Gun. It wasn't very effective, however it somehow damaged it more than Punicin's Tackle. On the next turn, Splashalf outsped Jay's Punicin and it used Water Gun again; strangely, it almost KO'd Punicin. On the next turn, both trainers told their Pokémon to hit at the exact same time, and whichever Pokémon would respond faster would win. However, both Pokémon used their move in unison. Had Splashalf been slower, Punicin would have won. Splashalf noticed this and dodged out of the way of the opposing Pokémon's attack, then hit a Tackle at Slithurn. Jay had won.

"It is a custom for Trainers to hand out money to the winner of the battle if they have lost, so here," said Jay. She handed Jay one hundred Pokémon Dollars.

"Woah!" cried Professor Waratah, who was about to go back to her laboratory before the battle commenced. "You knocked out a Grass type with a Water type! Water is weak to Grass!"

"Can I heal your Pokémon?" asked Matthew. They nodded and Matthew sprayed a Potion on Splashalf, then walked over to Punicin and used a Revive and a Potion on it.

"Thank you," said Jay.

"I don't want to fight you," sighed Matthew. "I don't want to put anymore pressure on Punicin." Jaiden mouthed 'that's fine'.

"We need to get every Gym Badge in Maloni. The nearest one to Litoire Town is in Bilbemu City," said Jay.

"Isn't the leader Pierre?" questioned Matthew.

"Yeah. He specialises in Rock types. If you wanna defeat him or any of the Gym's trainers, a Steel, Fighting or Ground type is a good choice," explained Jay. "Grass and Water are also super effective, but you'll probably need to train your starters until they're at least level 10."

"There's also quite a few Seedlinos in Route 1 and 2. I'd say get one and evolve it into Saplino. It levels up quite fast," said Professor Waratah. "Also, there's not really any point of being in the town anymore."

"Okay, let's go our separate ways. I'm going to get a few more Pokémon for my team, but you can do whatever you like," said Jay.

"Ditto," said Matthew.

The three walked away from each other. Though they went to different places, the first place they went was Route 1—Jay walked into the grass, Matthew searched for items and Jaiden dashed through the grass as quick as she could. She very quickly ran into a Pokémon; a male Wrentric. Splashalf used a Water Gun, then Jaiden threw a Poké Ball at it. It caught it and the Pokédex scanned it. '#019. Wrentric, the Forest Bird Pokémon. Wrentrics are easy to find as their nests are made from scorched twigs and leaves. When they are found, they may attack.' Jaiden picked up the Poké Ball and put it in her bag. She then quickly glanced at the forest on the right side of the route, and a couple of Pokémon. She smiled very slightly, then ran to Ecinca Town.


	2. Enter, Team Nitro

When Jaiden arrived in Ecinca Town, she was surprised to see that it was _empty_. She glanced at houses, looking through the windows, but no one seemed to be in them. Out of suspicion, she ran into the town's Pokémon Centre. The only people in the centre were the nurse and the two Poké Mart cashiers. "Welcome to the Pokémon Centre!" said the nurse. "Would you like to rest your Pokémon?" Jaiden shook her head "Oh… that's fine," she cried. "Why not?"

Jay rushed in a second later. "Uh, Jaiden?" he shouted. "Do you know where all the people in this town are?" Jaiden shook her head again.

"Are you here to heal your Pokémon?" asked the nurse.

"Yep," said Jay, grabbing two Poké Balls from his bag and handing them to the nurse. "But that's not the only reason I'm here. Do you know what's happening?"

"I do," said one of the cashiers at the Poké Mart area, as the nurse brought them over to a healing station. "There's a speech going on in the plaza. I would've gone to see, but I can't exactly leave during my shift."

"I would advise going to see it," added the other cashier. "Virtually the entire town has gone to the plaza!"

"Okay," said Jay. "I think I saw Matthew going to the plaza just a minute ago, so we'll meet up with him there."

"Sir, your Pokémon have been healed," stated the nurse. "Take care!"

"Thanks," said Jay. "I'll meet you outside!" he added, looking at Jaiden. She nodded, then darted out of the Pokémon Centre.

"Good afternoon, Ecinca Town!" cried a mysterious male figure who was residing in the town's plaza. Almost his entire face was covered, and the only things that could be seen were the person's eyes. Even the skin between his emotionless, grey eyes was covered. "Have you ever hated how it's so hot in summer and in the winter it's still kinda hot?" A mix of reactions came from the crowd, including quite a few yeahs and a 'no, I've gotten used to it'.

"No, not really. It's been that way for thousands of years,," said a young man.

"And it seems that the only Pokémon capable of even lowering the temperature of Maloni are the Ice types," continued the man. "Because of this region's climate, it's way too hot for most Ice types to even thrive!"

"Over here!" ushered Matthew to Jay and Jaiden, while he was busy watching the speech.

"So I have a deal for all of you," said the man, as two young adults wearing blue uniforms walked onto the plaza stage. "Find as many Ice types as you can and give them to people in the uniforms you see here. These are members of the organisation I lead, Team Nitro. It would also be good if you were to join this, too, however it is not mandatory. We mean no harm, and all we want to do is lower the temperature of the region. Good day to you all."

The masked man left the plaza and one of the people in uniforms escorted him to the nearby Route 2. "What was that all about?" asked the Poké Mart cashier that Jay and Jaiden had encountered at the Pokémon Centre before. "Oh! I just finished my shift."

"I don't know, but I don't trust that guy or his organisation one bit," said Matthew. "Should we follow him?"

"Possibly," Jay replied. "What do you think, Jaiden?" Jaiden thought for a second then shrugged a little bit.

"Okay," said Matthew.

All three kids ran out of the town and very quickly entered the gate between Ecinca Town and Route 2. "Excuse me," said the clerk at the counter in the gate. "I just saw a man and two other people walk through this gate. Do you know anything about them, by any chance?"

"There was a rally thing going on in the town a few minutes ago," replied Matthew. "Was the man almost covered and were the two people wearing ice blue clothing?"

"Yes."

"Then that was the man from the speech," said Jay. "In the speech he said he was the leader of Team Nitro. They say they mean no harm, but it just doesn't seem like a name of a good organisation. But why the name Team Nitro?"

"Liquid nitrogen is known to be so cold that just waving your hand over it could give you frostbite," explained the clerk. "Perhaps that's why."

"Wouldn't that mean that—"

"Hey!" shouted a voice coming from the outside of the gate, on Route 2. "Why are you talking trash about our organisation?"

"Who are you?" shouted Matthew.

"I am a member of the glorious Team Nitro, isn't it obvious?" replied the voice, which was found to be a female Team Nitro grunt, the same one that had stepped up in the rally.

Jaiden slowly opened her bag and grabbed the Poké Balls containing her Pokémon, just in case. "Well I'm sorry, but I couldn't see you," said Jay, in a sarcastic tone of voice.

"You were talking about our organisation, so you could've still known who we are if you fully listened," said another grunt, who was male.

"None of what you just said made any sense!" cried Jay.

"You know what?" said the female grunt. "I'm sick of your sarcasm."

Both grunts grabbed a Poké Ball from their belts. "We challenge you to a Pokémon battle!" the male grunt cried.

"Do it outside," the clerk said, and everyone currently in the gate left it.

"Jaiden, you battle with me," said Jay. "Sorry, Matthew," he added, noticing the expression on his face. "Go, Punicin!" Jaiden sent out Splashalf.

"Wait, that girl's fighting? She doesn't even talk, so how is she supposed to give commands to his Pokémon?" asked the male grunt.

"You'll find out," said Jay.

"Go, Punctunny!" cried the female grunt.

"Wormex, you're my Pokémon!" shouted the male grunt.

"You don't have any Ice types?" said Matthew.

"Team Nitro is new," said the male grunt. "That's all you need to know, so shut up and get out of this!"

"Use Bite on Punicin!" shouted the female grunt. Punctunny ran up to Jay's Punicin, its sharp, dangerous teeth ready to sink into its skin.

"Punicin, dodge it quickly, and use a Vine Whip!" said Jaiden. Punicin did as it was told.

"And Wormex! Use Bug Bite on that girl's Splashalf!" cried the male grunt. It did a fair amount of damage on Splashalf. Jaiden got out her Pokédex and told Splashalf to use Water Gun. It was not super effective on Wormex, however it still fainted it. The male grunt recalled Wormex.

"Well, you guys beat me, good job," he sighed.

"You still have to beat me, or at least try to," the other grunt snorted. "Punctunny, Bite again!" Jaiden recalled Splashalf and sent out Wrentric. Jaiden told Wrentric to use Thunder, and it hit and paralysed Punctunny before Bite could hit Punicin.

"Thanks!" said Jay. "He's almost down, so use Vine Whip one last time, Punicin!" Two long vines shot out of Punicin's back, and hit Wormex almost immediately. Wormex fell over and its eyes quickly closed. It had fainted, and Jay and Jaiden had won their first Multi Battle.

The grunt recalled Punctunny and sighed. "We really underestimated you and your friend," she said, handing the pair four hundred Pokémon Dollars each. "But I promise you, if any member of Team Nitro has to fight you again, we'll have Ice types. Not all of us, but the majority of us. Mark my words, kid." Next, they ran away from them and met up with the masked man.

"You idiots!" he cried. "Do you really want Team Nitro to have a bad reputation? Because fighting a bunch of fifteen year olds is not gonna help!"

"How?"

"They'll just tell everyone in the entire region about that." he answered. "They seem like a talkative bunch."

"Boy, you are wrong," muttered the male grunt. "One of them didn't talk at—"

"Do not answer me back!" the man shouted back. "I am your leader!"

"Okay, sir. I just have one question, though."

"What?" blurted the man.

"How do you know they're fifteen?"

"That's something you don't need to know!"

Back at the gate, both the Poké Ball containing Splashalf and the Poké Ball containing Punicin made a noise. "Woah," said Jay. "What's that meant to mean?" His Pokédex turned on. 'When a Poké Ball makes a noise like that it means that the Pokémon has levelled up,' it explained. 'Pokémon will learn moves at certain levels and some Pokémon evolve by levelling up.'

"Cool," said Matthew.

"Yes," said the clerk. "And if you want to evolve your Pokémon, you'll need to train them."

"You were talking about training, weren't you?" Matthew asked Jay.

"Yes," he replied.

"Also you'll need to go back to Ecinca Town to heal," the clerk added. "I heard a lot of things happening in that battle and it sounded like it hurt." Jaiden nodded, waved and ran out of the gate.

"I need to go there too," said Jay. "I'll wait a little, though, as I don't know how long Jaiden will take."

"I'm gonna go challenge some people to battles," explained Matthew. "I didn't participate in the battle and I wanna get some of that action."

"Okay."

Jaiden arrived at the Pokémon Centre a minute later. "Aren't you the one that came in before?" said the nurse. Jaiden nodded. "You didn't want me to heal your Pokémon, but do you now?" Jaiden nodded again and gave her her Poké Balls.

"I would advise buying some Potions, so you can heal your Pokémon without visiting a Pokémon Centre," said the cashier at the Poké Mart section. While he wasn't the same cashier that had talked to Jaiden before, he looked very similar. "They cost three hundred Pokémon Dollars each, and restore 20 Hit Points to a Pokémon."

"Your Pokémon have been healed," grinned the nurse. "We hope to see you again soon!" Jaiden nodded then quickly walked over to the cashier.

"So, do you want to buy a Potion?" asked the other cashier. "If so, how many?" Jaiden put her left thumb up and then changed it to three fingers up.

"That'll be nine hundred Pokémon Dollars," he said, as Jaiden got out his bag, which contained one thousand, four hundred and fifty Pokémon Dollars. "And your change is five hundred and fifty Pokémon Dollars."

Jaiden took the Potions and mouthed 'thanks', then ran out of the Pokémon Centre. "You're done?" questioned Jay, who had been waiting outside. "Then, I'm gonna go—"

"There's someone in the plaza!" interrupted Matthew, appearing out of nowhere.

"There's people in the plaza all the time," sighed Jay. "It is a _plaza_, after all. So what makes this one sp… Tio?"

"JAY?!" cried the person in the plaza. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm on my Pokémon journey," he answered. "Why are you here?"

"Did you see that rally?"

"Yes," Matthew said. "There was a guy who wanted Ice types for some reason. He said he was the leader of Team Hydrogen or something."

"It's called Team Nitro, and, well," began Tio.

"What?"

"I'm going to join it!" she shouted.

Jaiden looked at Tio in surprise and Matthew cried, "Why?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out," smirked Tio.

Jay gave her a dirty look. Her cousin hardly ever acted this way, even if she was odd. "I've got to go now so I'll speak to you later," said Tio quickly, dashing out of sight.

"Okay…" said Matthew, very slightly confused. "I'm going to Bilbemu City. Is anyone else coming?"

"Yes," replied Jay. "But I'm gonna go a different way. You know we don't have to follow each other around all the time, right?"

"That's true," added Matthew. "So, see you later!"

"Bye!" waved Jay. Jaiden also waved, and the three split up once again, all en route to Bilbemu City.


End file.
